Finding new natural, safe and economical antioxidant substances, especially from abundant and low-value raw materials is a real challenge nowadays, especially in an effort to develop the sustainability concept (Moure et al., 2001). Some industries, such as those related to food additive production, pharmaceutics and cosmetics have increased their efforts in obtaining bioactive compounds from natural products by extraction and purification. Forest biomass contains the same bioactive molecules as the fruits and vegetables considered as healthy diets (Stevanovic et al., 2009) and the residues of industrial wood transformation, available in huge quantities, represent therefore an abundant and inexpensive source of bioactive molecules.
Extractives obtained from the bark of red maple and/or black spruce considered as forest industry residues, can be advantageously utilised as sources of potent antioxidants. The results of this study show that red maple stem bark and to a lesser extent the bark of branches extracts can constitute potential sources of new antioxidant agents, rich in polyphenols. Since the stem bark represents the most important residue of red maple and black spruce wood transformation and is available in high quantities, the implementation of an extraction procedure in the existing wood processing industries could represent a viable solution to add value to the existing transformations of this wood species.
The extracts of red maple bark and/or black spruce bark have now been found to have specific anti-elastase and anti-collagenase activities that make it an anti-aging agent when used as a cosmetic.